It’s that time of year again to fire up Turbotax Deluxe and go through the tax filing routine. I like the e-filing feature. I like the New York State Tax download. And, I like the Audit Risk Meter that assesses your risk of drawing IRS attention.
I’ve been using Turbotax since the 1990s. Some years the software was better than others. But now, Intuit–the company that bought Turbotax–has this program refined and made it easy to use.
Have you done your taxes yet?
Did mine and got my refunds weeks ago. I use freetax USA. I got $1.00 back from federal and a few hundred from state. I don’t pay any taxes except when I take any money out of my 401K I pay state taxes-it’s mandatory but federal is not. I always get it all back in my refund. For some strange reason 72 cents was taken out by my 401 K. They rounded it off to $1.00
Steve, well done! My goal is always to break even on my Federal and State taxes.
Because my finances are simple, I use a free service available from a .gov website. I net about $500 in returns from Fed & State.
Dan, congratulations on that refund!
My brother did mine in 10 minutes. I had to pay about $2000 but got $700 back from state.
Patti, you’ll probably get a tax break next year for moving expenses!
I just dropped off our paperwork last week. We’ll probably have to pay because John did some contract work in late in 2021 (reported via a 1099) and the company did no withholding. However, we always immediately put 40% of his contract pay into a “tax bucket” in our savings, so we have the money to pay. We have to remit quarterly to the IRS & state this year because most of his work in 2022 will be contract. I like to break even on taxes, but as our kids have aged out of being claimed as dependents, we’ve had to increase our withholding or we end up owing a lot more than we anticipated.
Deb, like you we have very few deductions. Both Diane and I have upped our Withholding over the years. When I used to do consulting work for General Motors, I’d get those pesky 1099s and that would throw our taxes from simple to complicated. But, since our retirement, Diane and I basically have our pensions and Social Security and a few investments to account for in TURBOTAX.
I don’t need no stinkin’ taxes!
Nah, have to wait until we get home. The last two years we were able to scan and email our stuff to the accountant and he filed for us. We always make sure they deduct 20% on things like the RMD so we have been getting some back at the end of the year rather than paying. We only have Social Security, Jackie’s pension, a few IRAs and the like, plus our investments. I see the last three years we got refunds of $725, $1280 and $1400. I’m not anticipating big differences this year.
Jeff, usually we have to send a small check to either the Feds or the State and we get a small refund from the other one.
Paperwork has gone to the tax team, after Barbara did her organized spreadsheet. Ours isn’t complicated, but Oregon won’t withhold my California County pension plus we have IRA income. So we have to pay estimated quarterly and always still pay State at filing. Bah.
Rick, I just finished the Federal and State returns. We owe a couple hundred to the Feds and a couple hundred to the State. Not bad.
Had my tax appt last monday. I have it set up so I get just a small amount back (to know it went thru) and the rest applied to the next years taxes. I have to start taking out from my deferred comp and IRA’s this year (something I should have done when my income was $600/mo.!!) so until I have it settled, will keep doing that, and then be able to get a larger refund. I hate to pay or do estimated. I know it’s not the most fiscally smart way to do it, but it works for me.
Maggie, like Deb, I try to just break even. But, I have plenty of friends who welcome tax refunds each year so you’re not alone in that tax strategy!
I’m trying something diferent this year–sending my paperwork to the IRS and letting them figure it! Since I don’t have the vast holdings of a George Kelley it won’t be complicated!
Bob, if your adjuster gross income is $50,000 or less the IRS will do your taxes for you for free. You just have to make an appointment at one of their offices.
I’ll be working on our taxes this week. One great thing about having no income is that we haven’t had to pay taxes for at least the last eight years. Who knew there would be an upside to poverty?
Jerry, you might want to consider letting the IRS do your taxes for free. Just make an appointment at one of their offices.
I’m worried they will tax our stimulus checks.
Rick, I doubt the Government will tax those stimulus checks. But, don’t expect any more stimulus checks anytime soon.
We always use TurboTax too, and it works great. We usually do it much earlier but somehow we did not get some papers we needed until just recently. And then we lost the internet for two days. So, we will do it soon I hope. Things have changed for us so much in the last two years that we are not sure how it will go. (Both of us retired. Glen worked half of last year and his workplace was the one that took out a lot. New withdrawals from IRAs. Etc.)
Tracy, I think this latest version of TURBOTAX will meet your expectations.